Only Father God
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April 30, 2017 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"And He said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).
What God desires of us is love that never changes but only becomes deeper as time goes. The fundamental spirit of the Law written in the Bible is spiritual love. I hope you will fill your heart with only God and the Lord and offer up your true love.
1. God Wants Our True Love
Demas once stayed with Apostle Paul even when he was in hardships (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24). But later, when Paul was put in jail again in Rome, Demas betrayed and went back to the world (2 Timothy 4:10).
Such cases are often present today also. When they are full of the Spirit they think they've cast away secular things, but when the fervor cools down, those things come back to them. At one moment they think, "Do I really have to do this? This life is hard." At such moments, if others tempt them with attractive words, they pay attention. They forget the words of truth they heard and the works of God they experienced. Now it's those tempting words that sound good.
Rather than trying to understand the will of God, they just pursue what is more comfortable and beneficial for them. And yet, they just say, "God is love. He will understand me." They even compromise with the world and even justify themselves thinking it is the will of God. Unless we fill our heart with God completely, the empty part of our heart will be filled by the world.
2. In Order to Fill Your Heart Only with God and the Lord
1) You Need to Arm Yourself with God's Word
Listening to so many messages, reading many Christian books, and feeling blessed doesn't necessarily mean you are armed with God's word. You have to actually make spiritual bread of it by cultivating it in your heart.
Spiritual armament of God's word is to apply God's word to your words, thoughts, and actions in your everyday life. When you were not a believer, you might have thrown temper tantrums, spoken in foul language, or said negative words. When you heard about the faults of others, you easily judged and condemned, slandered, or even gossiped. But if you arm yourself with God's words, those things change.
You will apply the Word every moment thinking, "I am a child of God and I can't do the things that please the enemy devil and Satan. Spiritual law says what we say will be actualized, so I will speak words of faith and hope. I will try to understand from others' viewpoints and think in goodness."
If you are discouraged because your works are not recognized, God's word is alive and it works in you to let you think like, "God knows everything and I should just keep serving more." Of course, if you are completely armed with God's word, it means your heart has been cultivated with the truth. So, even if you don't try to remember the Word, you will naturally live by it. In prayers, too, if you pray holding on to the words that you realized, you will not babble with meaningless repetitions but pray with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
If you arm yourself completely with the Word, you need not try to remind yourself of it. Since your heart has been cultivated into truth, you will naturally live by the Word. If you have the Word—"whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also (Matthew 5:39)"—cultivated in your heart, you can turn your left cheek to him who slaps you on your right cheek by the help of the Holy Spirit.
2) There Must Be Fervent Prayers
Spiritual armament of the Word cannot be done just with our own power. There must be the grace and strength of God and the help of the Holy Spirit. And it is the fervent prayer that brings down this grace, strength and help.
Only when we pray for each element of God's word, will this word be applied and work in our daily lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, only when we fervently pray can the sinful natures be burned and we become sanctified.
Also, prayer is spiritual breathing. Without prayer, you cannot but spiritually die. Heavenly hope and faith will diminish, too. Even though you were once very diligent and fervent in faith, the fullness of spirit cools down as you skip praying even just once or twice.
You used to be satisfied only with the Lord, but from a certain point in time you feel empty and you look back at the world. You come to think the things that you used to enjoy were good, and envy others who are enjoying a lot of things. And you will accept the fleshly things again, which you have once cast away.
Even if you cut the weeds again and again, they will grow back if they are not rooted out. In the same way, if you cease to pray, it means you've stopped circumcising your heart. Then, untruths start coming into your heart, which had once been filled with the truth.
That is why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says that it is God's will to pray unceasingly, and Colossians 4:2 says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." Even though you are attending Daniel prayer meeting every night, think about what kind of aroma your prayers have before God. Raising your voice doesn't necessarily mean it is fervent prayer. Shedding tears every time doesn't necessarily mean it is prayer of the heart.
You have to give all your heart to God as an aroma as if you were before God's throne talking to Him and looking into His eyes. You must not pray in meaningless repetitions, mumble in drowsiness, or have idle thoughts. Your prayer has to be sincere conversation with God.
3) You Have to Have Spiritual Love
Those who love God with all their heart do not give a part of their heart to God and give the rest to the world. Because they trust God completely, they obey even the things that do not seem beneficial for them or things they can't understand.
Those who love with all their soul accomplish the Lord's will without sparing even their lives, just as the apostles and the prophets did.
Those who love God with all their minds keep their hearts sincerely without changing their mind about Him. Such people keep their integrity before God under any and all threats and persecutions just as when Daniel's three friends would not bow before an idol even if they were to be thrown into furnace. This is spiritual love.
Those who love God in this way will also love the souls as themselves as it is said we shall love our neighbor as ourselves (Galatians 5:14). And, they want to share the love they received from God and the Lord with the souls.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Proverbs 8:17 says, "I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me." I pray in the name of the Lord that you will love and please God and be in honorable positions both on this earth and in Heaven.
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